Mars Express mission facts

How the mission was named:

Mars Express is so called because it will be built more quickly than any other comparable planetary mission. Beagle 2 was named after the ship in which Charles Darwin sailed when formulating his ideas about evolution.

Prime contractor:

Astrium, Toulouse, France, leading a consortium of 24 companies from 15 European countries and the US

Launch date:

2 June 2003

Launcher:

Soyuz/Fregat, built by Starsem, the European/Russian launcher consortium